Wichitans: Houston wants your support during the NCAA Tournament
To all Shocker fans in Wichita: Houston wants your support.
A letter from the University of Houston Alumni Association posted Monday calls on Shocker fans — "American Athletic Conference brethren" — to "hop on the Cougar bandwagon" during first-and-second-round games in Wichita.
Houston plays San Diego State in the late session Thursday at Intrust Bank Arena.
The letter, written by Mike Pede, associate vice president for alumni relations at Houston, invites anyone who wants to be an "adopted Houston Cougar" to come to a tailgate party from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Rock Island Live, 101 N. Rock Island.
The party is $20 to attend, but includes appetizers and two drink tickets.
Signs, pom-poms and "other fun stuff" will be given out there, according to the letter.
"Let me finish by adding, on behalf of the UHAA alumni base, that we have such great respect for your University, your alumni and your basketball program, and we wish you well in San Diego in your matchup as well.
"Let us give you a little red and white to add to your Shocker wardrobe!"
The invitation was met with mixed response online Monday, as some Shocker fans were still smarting from the loss to Houston less than a week earlier in the AAC tournament in Orlando.
"It would be a better way of generating some Shocker love for them had their players not disrespected our crowd after the game in Orlando," one Facebook commenter said.
Pede replied: "I hope we can agree that sometimes young men get a little excited. You can be sure how much our guys respect your guys and fans. No offense was intended if you took it that way."
If you just can't bring yourself to cheer for Houston this week, San Diego State has floated the idea of a #ShockersAztecsAlliance, wherein Shocker fans cheer for San Diego State in Wichita and Aztec fans cheer for Wichita State in San Diego on Friday.
San Diego State made headlines earlier this week when it was discovered it had to use private funds to travel to Wichita because of a California law banning state-funded travel to Kansas.
How to pick between Houston and San Diego State on Thursday?
"Double cheer," according to a post on the Wichita State Alumni Association's Facebook page.
Houston plays San Diego State at 6:20 p.m. Thursday. It will be televised on TBS.
This story was originally published March 14, 2018 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Wichitans: Houston wants your support during the NCAA Tournament."